It took several years of market development and a big uptick in the number of consumers using their smartphones, tablets and the mobile web to shop online, but mobile commerce in the U.S. is now mainstream commerce, according to data published in Internet Retailer's newly released 2014 Mobile 500. In 2013, mobile retail sales for the 358 U.S. merchants ranked in the Mobile 500 will grow about 67% and reach $25.4 billion, up from $15.2 billion in 2012.

Maybe we should just ask consumers what constitutes a mobile wallet, instead of letting banks, merchants, or telcos decide. New research from SAP (full disclosure: my employer) shows that consumers know what they want. And that, in turn, gives industry good insight into what to build. For this survey, researchers interviewed 12,424 people in 17 countries, and found that consumers expect that a 'mobile wallet' would enable them to buy goods online (51%) as well as in a shop (46%), even those costing a small amount (44%), plus check the status of anything currently on order (41%). A third of …

Latin America is seeing an E-commerce boom, with Brazil leading the race. Now over half of the top 400 top online retailers in the region are from Brazil. Brazil's E-commerce market is growing at a speed just behind China's. In the first quarter of this year its overall sales has reached 12.7 billion Brazilian Real, or about 5.8 billion U.S dollars. This is a rise of 24 percent from a year ago. "4 million people have had their first online shopping experience in the first quarter of this year. Now over 25 percent of Brazilians have at least shopped once …

The J.M. Smucker Company is bringing back its "Mug Up" promotion for Dunkin' Donuts packaged coffee with an added mobile twist, letting consumers enter via Instagram. Consumers can upload a photo of themselves with their favorite mug of coffee via a microsite that is optimized for mobile or they can post the photo to Instagram with the hashtag #DunkinMugUp. Each month through June 2, 2014, J.M. Smucker will announce a special theme for the photos, and three winners will be randomly selected for every month.

A new survey released today by mBlox and Millward Brown found that 80 percent of mobile users would share location data with brands in order to receive SMS or push messages. The report based on the survey's findings, "Engagement: What Consumers Really Think," reveals that while mobile users are open to receiving brand messaging, most said they would prefer to communicate with known or favorite brands. Respondents also indicated a preference for relevant communications.

Facebook is launching a new payments tool enabling consumers to make purchases within mobile applications using their Facebook login information. Autofill with Facebook enables any shopper who has previously provided the social networking giant with credit card account information to complete purchases across partnering mobile apps without re-entering their billing data. Apps integrate the Autofill feature into their billing mechanism, generating a drop-down "Check Out Faster with Facebook" prompt and "Autofill Your Info" button in lieu of a traditional checkout screen. Tapping the button shuttles the user to their Facebook for iOS app, where they can view their payment details …

eBay-owned PayPal is nearing an agreement to acquire startup Braintree Payments Solutions, The Wall Street Journal reports. Braintree enables developers, merchants and other clients to accept payments within their mobile apps and websites, collecting a 2.9 percent commission and 30-cent transaction fee on each purchase. The firm processes more than $10 billion annually. Sources close to the negotiations said PayPal is looking at Braintree to accelerate its efforts to generate increased revenues from mobile device-enabled transactions while also giving the digital commerce giant access to consumer data and transaction fees from Braintree partners like OpenTable, Uber Technologies and Airbnb.

Despite a turbulent launch, Google Wallet continues to show signs of life as Google works to establish a commanding presence in the mobile commerce sector. The Google Wallet's launch was plagued with serious security issues that threatened the financial information of consumers that used it. This caused many people to avoid the mobile commerce platform for several months after its launch, despite the fact that Google had resolved its security issues within a matter of days. Over the past few months, Google Wallet has been able to attract more users, and Google has been introducing n

Online sales through mobile devices (m-commerce) should represent up to 4.5 percent of the total handled by the Brazilian industry this Christmas, according to the director of the e-bit consultancy, Pedro Guasti. Speaking during an event on the sector, he said that the growing number of smartphones, plus access to mobile broadband, will contribute to this result. In June, the volume of e-commerce sales via mobile devices reached 3.6 percent, against 1.6 percent a year before.

Google Wallet picked up a couple of new merchant partnerships last week following news that it will be available on the iPhone and a wider variety of Android phones that do not have embedded NFC chips. New merchants announcing integrations with Google Wallet include Alaska Airlines and Valpak. Users with non-NFC Android phones or the iPhone can use Google Wallet to store their loyalty cards and offers, use their loyalty cards or redeem offers at checkout and send money.